BEIJING — State Councilor Yang Jiechi on Aug 25 hoped Japan would play a constructive role in the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Hangzhou.

Yang made the remarks when co-chairing the third China-Japan high-level political dialogue with Japan’s National Security Advisor Shotaro Yachi in Beijing.

As the world’s second and third largest economies, cooperation to ensure the success of the summit is in the interests of all parties, said Yang.

The improvement of China-Japan ties has been continuously disturbed by various problems, especially the issues related to East China Sea and South China Sea, which is in the interests of neither side, he said.

He hoped that Japan could match its words with deeds, adopt a positive and friendly policy toward China, and do addition to win-win cooperation and do subtraction to disputes, so as to create favorable conditions for the improvement of bilateral relations.

The two sides are set to embrace the 45th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties in 2017, and the 40th anniversary of the signing of China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty in 2018.

Yang hoped the two sides could seize the opportunity of the two anniversaries and continue to abide by the principles defined in the four political documents and the four-point principled agreement reached between the two sides.

He suggested the two sides maintain political contact, deal with major issues in a prudent and proper manner, enhance pragmatic exchanges and cooperation, and create favorable public atmosphere, in a bid to promote the steady development of China-Japan ties.

Yachi said Japan hopes to constantly push for improvement and development of relations with China.

Japan attaches great importance to the significance of the four political documents and the four-point principled agreement reached between the two sides, he said.

He said Japan is willing to strengthen dialogue with China, deepen mutual trust, properly cope with problems in bilateral ties, and beef up cooperation in areas of finance and environmental protection, in an effort to advance Japan-China relations.

Japan supports China in hosting a successful G20 summit in Hangzhou, he added.